A San Antonio man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for a deadly crash he caused while drunk last March, avoiding a much stiffer penalty but not the wrath of his victims’ relatives.

With anger in their voices, family members of Elizabeth Macias Cano, who was killed in the wreck, lashed out at Miguel Cortes for getting behind the wheel of a pickup while drunk and plowing it into the car carrying her, her husband and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter.

The crash killed slightly injured the child and severely injured John Michael Cano, leaving him with broken legs, ribs and a severed artery in one leg.

Cortes, 24, ran from the scene after the March 14 crash, which occurred about 12:45 a.m. in the 5900 block of South Presa Street, but a witness chased him down and returned him to responding police officers.

“How could you do that?” Elizabeth Cano’s youngest sister, Stephanie Longoria, asked during victim-impact statements. “She was dying while you were running!”

She also blamed Cortes for an additional loss. Shortly after Elizabeth Cano died, “that was enough for my mother to give up” and she passed away, too. And, Longoria said, the Canos’ daughter, now 2, will never know what it’s like to have her mother help her through life’s important milestones.

“Every day, she’ll look at the door and ask for her mom,” Longoria said of the tot. “She still does.”

“You have no idea what you’ve done to us!” Longoria said, her voice rising. “I honestly believe that you just don’t care”

As his trial neared, Cortes took a deal his lawyer, Doug Daniel, worked out with prosecutors, pleading no contest to intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. Other felony charges, each carrying as much as 20 years in prison, were dismissed. State District Judge Ron Rangel sentenced Cortes to 15 years for the manslaughter charge and 10 years for the assault count, to be served concurrently.

John Cano, an employee of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, told Cortes that he still has the physical and emotional scars Cortes inflicted, and that he still needs a cane to get around.

Cano said he contemplated suicide so he could join his beloved wife. He also fought back tears as he recounted how the couple’s date night turned to tragedy when Cortes’ pickup hit them.

“I will never forgive you for what you have done to me, our daughter and my wife’s family and friends,” John Cano said. “She’ll be grateful that the person who did this is going to prison and won’t cause another family pain.”

Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 10 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. He has also covered immigration, minority affairs and legal affairs as part of the projects team here and for other print, TV and radio outlets. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal.